Classic Prius Repairs

In another thread, a statement attributed to Toyota that the NHW11 battery has a 1% out-of-warranty failure rate:

http://priuschat.com/forums/prius-main-forum/48015-newsweek-hybrid-batteries.html

Obviously this cannot be accomodated by the poll either, but I believe it is the first 'official' statement on this failure rate. Now, if they would be so kind as to offer the same information about transaxles...

 

1. 2001
2. 153,000 ebay vehicle purched for $6,100.00 with known bad battery, cell #18 as tested by Toyota.
3. Purchased used battery from salvage yard in northern Alabama, which was from a 2002 car with 107 miles on it for $500 and $130 shipping. When I received the battery I was surprised to find it to be like new and the SOC to be 292V, all Moguls were within .02v of each other.
4. When I received the car, which was in very good condition except for the drive battery, I would clear the code P3006 and it would reset just idling in the driveway. I drove the car around the block a couple of times. The ICE ran constantly and the battery SOC would go up and down from low to full charge. I left the code scanner inserted and reset the code a couple of times and it would shortly reset. My son and I swapped out the battery, took us about 2.5 hours, we could probably do it faster now. We pushed the battery into the trunk area and picked it up with an engine crane. used the same procedure to re install. I might add this would probably take longer, but we had air tools and the bolts came out and in pretty fast and we are both experienced gear heads. After the change the car ran great, I have put about 75 miles on the car and no problems. I have rescanned twice and no codes set.
5. Code P3006
6. $630.00
I haven't looked at the old battery yet. I found another dead battery for $200 and bought it with the thought of using cells to fix the removed battery to ether have as a spare or to sell it. I have been able to charge 6 module's to 7.8V and they have been holding their charge for two days so far. I wish I knew how to load test them, I know there is a lot of elect techs on this site. If anybody knows how to load test a 7.8V DC Battery, please let me know how.

 

Thanks Patrick, What I wanted to know was how to test individual modules before I replaced them. I assume it would be 1/38th of 6.5 AH or if testing two at a time, which is what I want to do, it would be 1/19th of 6.5 AH. I need to know what kind of load tester I need. I have a complete extra battery that had very little charge, about .5V on some cells when I received it. What I have been trying is charging up two modules connected together to 15.5V and using a 12V fishing reel as a load. I was able to run one set for 9 minuets and 46 seconds at .89 to .82 Amps until it reached 10.5V. I have tried two more and they only lasted less than two minutes. I suspect they are low on watter, but don't know if I am doing something wrong. This is something I probably need to talk to Bob about, if I can't figure it out on my own. I am about ready to cut one apart and look at it to see if it is low on watter. If so I will haft to find out how to fill them.

Roy

 

Hi Patrick, Your help is much appreciated, could you give me the method you used to get the 1.3AH. I didn't think I was getting that much. I thought I would need to get 1A for 6 hour per module to get 6AH or 12 hours for 2 modules. This appears not to be the case. Any way I recharged the Module I thought might be good and it was over twice as good as the first time. Maybe it just needs to be cycled up and down a few times. The second time around, I only used one Module this time. I started at 7.87V to 5.25V and it ran the reel at .78A to .74A for 28min and 14 sec. I am charging it again to try it again to see if it improves even more. Next I am going to remove 2 good Modules from the battery I took out of the car, charge them and load test them just to get a baseline. I am going to figurer this thing out yet. I don't have any give up, can't do it in me. I certainly would appreciate knowing how you figured the AH. Thanks again Roy

 

2001 Prius bought new at dealer, 2001
no problems until i took it in for the battery sealing thing, where i would get seemingly random triangle lights.

another 01 we have that we bought salvage
the main battery was low when we got it because it rested for 1 year, in winter and stuff, we had to charge it in order to start the vehicle.
10,000 miles later at 50,xxx miles no problems
no problems, just that one time the inverter water pump failed, resulting in replacement.

thats about it

 

2003 bought new (when no one was buying them) 64,500 miles on it. Dash warnings came on once and stayed on. Dealer fixed it under warranty. They weren't even sure what it was, but it never happened again. Otherwise, no problems except I did change the 12volt battery myself after about 5.5 years.

 

I have a '02 Prius, bought new, with about 234,000 miles now.

What has gone wrong? Let me count the ways...

• Electric power steering has failed.
• Catalytic converter has failed.
• Wheel bearings are a routine replacement item for my car.
• Struts have failed.
• Every now and then, the ICE fails to start.

And, of course, Toyota's stealerships have been of no help whatsoever.

 

HELP!
I'm new here, but I love my car and want to keep it running- so I need advice!-
I have a lovely 2003 Prius with 140k on it. It has been a little sticky with the steering lately, so I brought into my dealership, and they said I need a new power steering rack and an ECU- costing $2800. They also told me the steering could lock up on me at any time while I'm driving. I wasn't sure if they were trying to scare me into getting it fixed right away or if it was an actual danger. Has anyone else had to get this replaced? Is it a defect on Toyota's part or is it from wear and tear? I saw that there were power steering recalls on the '01 and '02s-and I was wondering if it should be something to be aware of on the '03.
Any info on this kind of repair would be an enormous help- I've had trouble finding online information on it.
Thank you all!

 

My 2002 Prius with 65000 miles on it has had the following:
Wheel bearings (both front- one under warranty, one not)
Rotors
Water pump (warranty)
Engine ECU (warranty)
Replaced 12 volt battery
Possibly now HV battery (hopefully still warranty-we'll see!)
On 3rd set of summer tires (use snows in winter)

 

2002 Prius bought new needed only multiple tire replacements and a brake job until the transaxle and inverter failed at 113,000 miles three weeks ago -- we overachieved with the maintenance schedule and there was no warning. My decision to make a $7,500 repair is waiting for Toyota's response to my plea to the national customer service people. Now there are 3 transaxle failures in your poll!

 

Prius delivered

February, 2001
​

Early failures

- Defective tires, replaced under warranty.
- Battery seal repaired under warranty.
- Received notice of weak child restraint, did not fix since we have no young children.
​

Mid-life failures

- at approx 38 months, accelerator module failed in traffic. Fortunately, traffic was moving slowly. Found out that TSB from at least one year earlier had warned this unit was likely to fail, but Toyota would only pay for 1/2 of repair cost.
-Occasionally, when hot or when starting with A/C on, radio on and/or shifting into reverse very soon after starting, Triangle of doom appears. 4 restarts causes display to return to normal and car runs fine. This has been occurring for at least 3 years, growing more frequent as time goes on.
​

Recent failures

- at approximately 7 years, 12 volt battery failed.
- at approximately 105K miles, replaced heating/A/C blower ($153 part)
- currently (110K miles) car is having rear wheel bearings replaced (about $1100). Dealer says struts are worn and that led to bearing failure. Is that really plausible? Dealer says code indicates that either steering rack/ECU or fuel pump has a problem.
- Dealer is cleaning/repairing throttle body under warranty extension, but requires that I purchase $42 air filter, in spite of air filter being two weeks old.
​

 

Hi Don, you are new here but not new to Prius! Your 'mid-life triangle' may point to a need for the updated HV ECU. See tsb EG 011-03. The codes are needed for accurate diagnosis, but frankly (as below) I am not sure that your shop is highly skilled there.

The rear wheel assemblies including bearings part cost is about $300 per side, so I think the labor being charged there is lavish. Or, does this proce include new struts? That would be OK. I would doubt strut wear would be likely to cause this unless you have done a great deal of rough-road driving.

There should be no confusion between DTCs related to the steering and fuel pump. I suggest it is time to work with another shop. There are two independents in the bay area, is that too far for you to consider going?

You can probably guess my response to being punished with a $42 (should be less than $20) engine air filter.

 

Wow.. that is a lot of disassembly for a GPS. Yep, your car is probably the best looking Gen-1 still on the road.

 

I'll bet "other" is: 12 volt battery.

 

"Other" for me was throttle body and MAF sensor got gooked up from the dealer overfilling the engine oil, when it happened it would not start and had the triangle of death and car with line across it, needless to say it would not run. MAF had to be replaced as it was too far fouled. Also had the 12v battery replaced once so far. All in all, the 03' classic has been a greatly dependable car. The traction battery still holds a good charge and seems to like being at 58 SOC. You can get it up to around 61 SOC but that's with a lot of regen braking of course, and in traffic jams ie;slow moving it will get down to 48-50 or so but it comes right back up to 58 in no time.